At the Conference of Berlin in 1884-1885, Belgium was granted sovereignty over a large region of central Africa, and King Léopold II immediately set out to turn his new possession into profits. The Congo Free State was established in the lower Congo River Valley in 1885 and extended upriver into the mineral-rich Katanga Province by 1891. From the beginning, its economy was geared toward the development of agricultural products for export, particularly rubber, and the exploitation of mineral resources. Administered through indirect rule, using local chiefs as intermediaries between the state and the tribes, the Free State quickly earned a reputation for its unusually harsh and exploitative ways, using mercenaries from other regions of Africa to help extend their dominion and crush resistance.

The most lucrative resource in the Free State during its brief existence was rubber. After declaring all uncultivated lands state property, the government imposed a tax on the indigenous population, which they paid by extracting latex from wild lianas. Permitting their agents to use as much force as they felt necessary to deliver the tax and other goods, the Free State became associated with forced labor and coercion. The activity of Arab slavers in eastern Congo was diminished in the mid-1890s.

By shortly after the turn of the century, the Congo had become the world's largest exporter of rubber, but the repression resulted in a significant international outcry, led by Protestant missionaries eager to ply the Congolese waters. In 1908, the Belgian Parliament voted to annex the Free State, renaming it Belgian Congo.

The essay L'État Indépendant du Congo was written by an unknown Belgian some time during the period 1895-1908. Apologetic in tone, it discusses the political and social organization and religion of the Congolese natives, the geography and productions of both Bas Congo and Haute Congo, and the civil administration.

The author steadfastly asserts the profit of the Free State both to Belgium and to the native peoples. While he extols the virtues of the state for developing agriculture and commerce in the Congo, he cites the even greater gift of missions. While he admits that the early years of the state were marked by brutality and the rule of force, he wrote: "aujourd'hui heureusement cette situation n'existe plus. Le code protège tout le monde et les nègres ne sont pas les derniers à s'en apercevoir" (30).

The "ethnographic" comments that the author provides on the indigenous population are not particularly deep or insightful, but are interesting when seen in the context of an advocate of colonialism. Perhaps typical of the comments is the following:

D'ailleures il ne faut pas s'imaginer que les habitants de l'État Indépendant du Congo sont des Sauvages féroces et cannibals. Il existe certainement des tribues loin dans l'intérieur du pays où les moeurs ne sont pas douces et où il ne serait pas don d'aller faire une excursion de plaisir une simple badines à la main, mais en règle générale le nègre congolais n'est pas aussi diable qu'il est noir et pour ma part je crois que nous ne perdrons pas notre lessive en essayant, -- moralement parlant -- de le blanchir un peu. (1-2)

The date of the manuscript is difficult to ascertain, but it can be no later than about 1908, when it was accessioned at the APS. Mentions of the slave trade in eastern Congo suggest weakly that it may have been written in the mid-1890s, when the campaign against Arab slavers was at its most active.

Provenance

Provenance unknown, but the item was accessioned in about 1908 (accn. no. 39847).

Preferred citation

Cite as: L'État Indépendant du Congo, American Philosophical Society.

Processing information

Recatalogued by rsc, 2002.

Geographic Name(s)

• Belgium--Colonies--Administration
• Congo Free State

Personal Name(s)

• Anonymous
• Swann, William Francis Gray, 1884-1962

Subject(s)

• Kongo (African people)
• Slavery--Congo